HISTORY TIP OF THE DAY

Julius Caesar is assassinated, 44 BC

He is the most powerful man in the world. But today he contemplates murder—his own. Friends, soothsayers, even his beloved wife, Calpurnia, have warned him that something terrible will happen. But the hint that the Senate might name him king lures him to its chambers. All nine hundred senators rise as Caesar enters. Immediately, a group of sixty walks toward him, until he is ringed by a small mob. Each holds a dagger, and they attack the defenseless Caesar. Then Marcus Brutus delivers the killing blow. “You too, my boy?” Caesar asks despairingly. His limp body slides to the floor. Death arrives.